WASHINGTON — A new poll of likely Colorado voters again found Republican Cory Gardner and Democrat Mark Udall in a statistical tie — a result that tracks with most, but not all, of the polling done so far in this fiercely-fought race.

The automated survey of 652 likely Colorado voters by Public Policy Polling has Gardner ahead two percentage points on Udall, the one-term incumbent. Gardner’s 47 percent to 45 percent advantage, however, is within the 3.8 percent margin of error listed by PPP, which contacted voters Sept. 19 to Sept. 21.

Of those polled, 50 percent supported President Barack Obama in the last election versus 44 percent who backed Mitt Romney. Party registration was divided almost exactly: 34 percent were Democrats, 33 percent were Republicans and 34 percent self-identified as an affiliation other than the two major political parties.

The Senate results, however, were just one piece of the 25-question survey. Several questions focused on the issue of “tax fairness” and a PPP memo that accompanied the survey opined that support for this idea was strong enough that “it appears to be a core value held by the public.”

In reaching that conclusion, the firm relied on questions framed as such:

“Now I’m going to read you a list of positions a candidate for U.S. Senate might take, and then ask you if you’d be much more likely, somewhat more likely, somewhat less likely, or much less likely to vote for that candidate, or would it not make a difference. Here’s the first one: A candidate who wants to make sure the rich and corporations pay their fair share of taxes.”

[47 percent were “much more likely” and 17 percent “somewhat more likely”]

And this question:

“Burger King is buying a Canadian company, and it will change its corporate address to Canada from the United States to reduce what it pays in taxes. Do you approve or disapprove of this?”

[50 percent strongly disapproved and 19 percent somewhat disapproved]

A few thoughts to keep in mind when reading the PPP results. Partisans previously have accused the North Carolina-based firm of having a liberal bias, a claim that poll guru Nate Silver explored in this 2012 blog post. But PPP also was credited for its accuracy in forecasting election results that year.

Republicans vying to unseat U.S. Sen. Mark Udall in November pounced on news reports Thursday that a director of the state’s Division of Insurance felt intimidated after the senior senator’s staff pushed back against claims that 250,000 Coloradans had insurance policies canceled because of the Affordable Care Act.

“Sen. Udall says our numbers were wrong. They are not wrong. Cancellation notices affected 249,199 people. They (Udall’s staff) want to trash our numbers. I’m holding strong while we get more details. Many have already done early renewals. Regardless, they received cancellation notices,” Donlin wrote in a November e-mail to co-workers.

That figure has been openly challenged by Udall. Moreover, Udall called it misleading since most of those “cancellations” allowed individuals to renew their health insurance plans.

“It is clear that Senator Udall tried to use his official office to advance his political interests by pressuring state officials to change facts that he realizes are extremely damaging for his flailing re-election campaign,” said Stephens, who is one of seven candidates in a GOP primary for Senate.

Tim Griesmer, campaign manager for Weld County Republican District Attorney Ken Buck, who is also running for Senate, said Udall promised Coloradans could keep their health plan if they liked it, noting a 2009 interview Udall gave to a local TV station.

“That turned out to not be true. Now we learn that his staff tried to pressure the Colorado Division of Insurance to change the number of people who had their health plan cancelled,” Griesmer said.

Weld County DA Ken Buck.

On Thursday, Udall defended his staff in an interview with The Post, saying in part that it was “really important to correct the record.”

“I put my team to work to find out whether those numbers would stand up to scrutiny,” Udall told The Post. He added: “I’m going to be there every day insuring that every Coloradan who wants health insurance gets health insurance.”

A campaign spokesman for Udall declined to comment for this post, referring all inquiries to senator’s comments.

U.S. Michael Bennet, left, and Andrew Romanoff at a 2010 debate. The Denver Post.

Once political foes, Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, in a news release late Friday afternoon, endorsed former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff’s candidacy for the Aurora-based 6th Congressional District.

“Andrew has always placed the needs of his constituents above Washington’s politics-as-usual. At a time of partisanship and gridlock, he will work across the aisle to move our nation forward,” Bennet said in a statement.

Romanoff is vying to unseat three-term incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman. In an effort to get an early start on the 2014 campaign, Romanoff announced his candidacy last month and has netted endorsements from every Democratic state legislator in the district.

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report in its February rankings for 2014 races listed the seat as “lean” Republican, though the district is the most competitive in Colorado as it’s divided evenly among Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated voters.

“If Senator Michael Bennet was serious about endorsing his political nemesis Andrew Romanoff, he wouldn’t have done it late Friday night,” said Tyler Q. Houlton, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Romanoff thanked Bennet for the backing, saying in a statement, “I look forward to working with him to break the logjam in Washington and advance the interests of ordinary Coloradans.”

Each of the measures were debated in a marathon floor session, and in several hours of testimony in committee hearings, before passing through the House where Democrats hold a 37-28 edge. In the Senate, Democrats hold a 20-15 advantage and Republicans need three Democratic “no” votes to spike a bill.

Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and Mark Udall lauded a deficit-reduction plan set forth by a bipartisan coalition of senators known as the “gang of six” after they, along with about 50 senators, were briefed on it this afternoon in Washington.

“In town halls across our state, Coloradans tell me they want a plan that materially reduces the deficit, shows we are all in it together and is bipartisan,” Bennet said in a statement. “The plan should also reassure the capital markets that the paper they’ve bought is worth what they paid for it and is not at risk.”

Bennet says the “gang of six plan” meets those broad goals and would reduce the country’s deficit by close to $4 trillion.

Realistically the plan aims to cut $3.7 trillion over 10 years, by raising roughly $1 trillion in new revenue. Moreover, the plan is based on the bipartisan recommendations of the Erskin Bowles and Alan Simpson commission (also bipartisan) on reducing deficit reduction, which was released last fall.

“From the beginning, I’ve said that it is imperative that we work together on a plan to reduce our mounting debt while meeting our nation’s obligation to pay its bill,” said Udall in a statement. “Now more than ever, Republicans and Democrats have to come together to find a balanced, bipartisan proposal that ensures our budget isn’t balanced solely on the backs of middle-class families.”

President Obama, who for weeks has urged Congress to come up with a plan before the Aug. 2 deadline where the United States would default on its debts, praised the plan calling it a “significant step.”

Read more in tomorrow’s Denver Post about Bennet and Udall’s thoughts on the “gang of six.”

On a subdued day of Senate discussion with Sen. Mary Hodge absent to grieve a personal loss, Senate President Brandon Shaffer said Monday that he will direct all Senate Committee chairs to scour expenditures to find money to soften the blow of more than $400 million in proposed cuts to Colorado’s education system.

The Senate day began with an announcement that Hodge’s 39-year-old son, Andrew, had succumbed Saturday to complications stemming from his paralysis in a car accident years before. Andrew Hodge was known around the Capitol, having worked as his mother’s legislative aide.

Speaking with reporters at a “Meet the Press” event Monday afternoon, Shaffer said the Senate would make all efforts to allow lawmakers to attend funeral services, although when that will happen is not known.

The Longmont Democrat also addressed the sea of red ink in Gov. John Hickenlooper’s proposed budget, and said legislators face “hard choices” about cuts that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agree need to happen. But while Republicans make “arbitrary cuts,” Shaffer said, Senate Democrats want to stick strongly with one theme: education.

Both men running for U.S. Senate in Colorado know that Washington is broken.

But The Denver Post believes one of them is better suited to fix it than the other.

Michael Bennet, who was appointed as Colorado’s junior senator in January 2009, has the temperament, intelligence and passion to be a leader – not just for Colorado, but also for the fractured Senate and country.

Republican Senate hopeful Jane Norton turned in 16 boxes and more than 35,000 signatures to the Colorado Secretary of State’s office today – ore than double the number in each Congressional district required to make the August primary ballot, her office said.

About one-third of the signatures were gathered by volunteers, the rest were collected by a firm paid for by the campaign, said Cinamon Watson, campaign spokeswoman.

“I will be on the ballot,” Norton said to about 20 volunteers and staff donning purple “Jane” T-shirts and carrying purple balloons. “But more importantly, this represents the grassroots base of my campaign.”

To get onto the ballot, Norton must have 1,500 signatures from registered Republicans in each of Colorado’s seven congressional districts. Rich Coolidge, spokesman for the Secretary of State, said his office hoped to have the signatures validated within a week.

Lynn Bartels thinks politics is like sports but without the big salaries and protective cups. The Washington Post's "The Fix" blog has named her one of Colorado's best political reporters and tweeters.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.